Attorney general’s office looking into complaint in Marion county over open meetings law

Two county commissioners who took a trip to McPherson together may have violated open meeting law Oct. 10, according to a complaint being investigated by the state attorney general’s office.
The subject of the Kansas open meetings act complaint is a trip commissioners Randy Dallke and Kent Becker took to view a transfer station at McPherson, public information officer Jennifer Montgomery said in a Friday email.
The complaint began as an Oct. 23 letter sent by county clerk Tina Spencer. In the letter, Spencer wrote that Dallke and Becker went to McPherson County to walk through their transfer station.
“The purpose of touring the facility was to see how a neighboring county is handling solid waste disposal and to gain knowledge and perspective for a future work session in Marion County,” Spencer wrote. “In retrospect perhaps this should have been considered a special meeting. Because the Marion County transfer station has been discussed a lot recently, some might perceive the tour itself county business. At the time, I was not thinking about it in that way. I was simply considering it to be a tour, similar to other tours the board members may take.”